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Herbert

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Victor Herbert Elementary School is located on the near West Side. It serves a population that is 87% low income, 26% special ed, 2% ESL, and 92% African American. It is a Track E school serving children from Pre-K to 8th grade. Herbert offers full or half day preschool and full day kindergarten.

Sports programs include softball, basketball, archery, flag football, cheerleading and volleyball. Herbert also provides special education services and tutoring, along with arts programming, Girl Scouts, poetry slam, and SAME (Science and Math Excellence). Herbert won a grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to help build an understanding of Illinois’ heritage for their students. Teachers from Herbert won a grant and scholarship from BP. The community at Herbert organized a day for students to volunteer at CCIL’s Community Food Pantry.

I have a granddaughter that was at Victor Herbert, and without Victor Herbert and her being special needs, she didn’t know how to talk, she didn’t know how to do anything, and by the grace of God and Victor Herbert, she is now going to graduate this year from special needs at Whitney Young High School, okay? —Brenda Carter, Herbert grandparent

“Even when Horner, Abbott, Addams, and Rockwell Gardens came down, the schools remained as a stable home serving children within these communities and mothers and fathers that continued to select these schools and their work to improve these schools. Whenever the problem arises, these schools have served the children from low-income households. They provide learning, nutrition, recreation and social services. They are true neighborhood schools. And from the crowd here tonight, you can see that the people of this community truly value our schools.” —2nd Ward Alderman Bob Fioretti

Although Herbert is officially closing, the students and staff at Dett will be relocating to Herbert. Herbert has already been a receiving school twice since 2004 to nearby CPS students. Community members feel like this is part of the reason their school struggles. At hearings after the closing announcements, Herbert parents testified about their concerns. (WBEZ has made recordings of the closing hearings that took place on April 9th and April 12th available. Herbert testimony begins around minute 20 on both nights.)

“I have attended Herbert since I was four years old. Every year I have great teachers who challenge me to be the best student I can be. I have a brother in kindergarten; and if Herbert closes, he will not get to be in the wonderful classrooms that I have been in. I love doing math at Herbert. My teacher showed us about so many different types of triangles and angles. We did slopes in math and science. We always have to extended response, so we can extend our reading and math to show others what we were thinking when we solved the problem. I can divide, multiply and do fractions. We write every day. My teacher told me […],”If you write, you will become an even better reader because reading and writing are connected.” If my school closes, how will I get a better education? Herbert School is like a big happy family to me.” —Michael Armstrong, 9 year old Herbert student